Just For a Second
by Anna Marcelli Palmer
Summary: They were polar opposites. She was light and he was dark. She was words and he was thoughts. But she made him find a person worth promising to... a person to love. Shadamy oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

**-Just For A Second-**

Words.

"Shadow, we need you!"

What a disarming power they have-especially if coming from those lips. My mind is immediately sent into overdrive due to that mere sound; who did she just talk to? Me? I am not very used to being called for, let alone from that specific someone I hardly know-someone, as mentioned, full of...words.

_That_ girl.

Ruby eyes nonchalantly rolling over the familiar -was it always so breathtaking from up here?- shape of the Earth, for now just an aloof tiny sphere of no importance, I took a deep breath, ommiting the turning to answer part. It is just the same view as the one an ignorant, younger and happier me would watch, as though through the screen of some old favorite movie, half a century ago. Back then, when words were just a faraway concept, lost somewhere in the bliss of a childhood precosiously lost.

"Please, help us!"

Why, what, what does she want? It's peaceful up here, and known to me, like home. No one has the right to interrupt the silence like that-and definitely _not her. _An angel-a silly one, that keeps on believing in feelings and chasing after that_ Faker,_ but an angel nontheless- should under no circumstances blur their heart around so much hatred, so much pain and death -enough to wash every trace of naivety off those green eyes. As for me, I never knew or cared angels exist. I don't need her.

"It's all according to plan", I exhale. There is no reason for me to look at her; the image is crystal clear in my mind, able to reproduce the original down to the merest detail -from the childish way she has to smile when she's around the blue moron, to the flamboyant shimmer in her orbs that would make a supernova shiver in embarrassment-but the darn name; I briefly scroll through a mental list of popular flowers. It has to do with something similar. Daisy, Violet, Margaret...Rose? Is it? The other I can't remember-female names are obviously not my cup of tea.

"There is no reason for me to help them"-it's true, and I can feel Rose frowning in disappointment behind my back-"Besides, there's no way to save anyone"

As there hadn't been one back then...because of those pathetic humans that irritatingly innocent gal wants to save so badly. That she will make me want to save too, if I ever turn to face her. Because that innocence has a devastating power upon what supposedly is a machine created to bring wrath and destruction. I don't know if it is because she reminds me of my sister or just a system failure. Heck, I don't even know if there is such a feeling in the whole world. I 've practically never met her. But watching her, instead.

An angel. A real fallen angel. A rose proudly raising its petals among the debris.

No, I can't turn. It's crazy. Not supposed to be happening. Now or before.

The sound of a step. Small, doubtful. And Rose's breath, weak from the words, the much hated words that so much have complexed the mankind and now are harassing me as well. It is as if the girl is attempting to hold her breath.

"I know that people fight over the most trivial things. Some people may be selfish, like the professor said..."

The professor. My father didn't know anything, he was just some wannabe-God fool that toyed with achieving life out of life. And created a thinking weapon...to sacrifice his only true treasure. Mine, too.

But he was a human being, let us not forget.

"...But there basically good! If they try their best and never give up on their wishes...They always have a reason to be happy. That's why you should help them out...saving them is a good thing!"

Rose's -I have already given up trying to remember her first name- voice reaches the ears soothing like a bedtime story with a happy ending. For a moment, the tiniest of them, she fills my ribcage with hope of those beautifully spoken words being true. Maria belonged to the same species, after all. If only all of it were true. If only I could understand her way of seeing the world. If only she could see mine. If only this everything was different for both. But I've made up my mind, and the hedgehog is too yound to comprehend...

_If only I could turn and see her face. _

I hold a tear back. It's uninvited, the wrong reaction to a wrong statement. Besides, machines don't have the right to cry. They just go on with thr job they were programmed, destined to do-for an infinite lifetime.

"Shadow, I beg you!"

Words.

"Please do it for them!"

What a disarming power they have...

"Give them a chance!"

...To evoke poignant memories that you just try to push out of the backyard of your brain.

_[[[Shadow, give them a chance to be happy...]]]_

I want to see the expression on her face, badly, like mad.

_[[[Sh-hadow...]]]_

To make out if it is at all like my sisters...the day she left me alone in my eternal hell of whys.

_[[[Let them live for their dreams...]]]_

But no; Rose can still dream. Nothing should deprive such a pure soul from that divine good. And it would be relieving to know that someone on this Universe sees the stars among the dead space.

Everyone should see them.

_[[[Shadow, I know you can't do it. That is the reason you were brought to this world.]]]_

And maybe -just maybe- I can stare through space with the joy of knowing there is always something shining brightly somehere near-no matter what.

_[[[Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog]]] _

Maria died and words weren't able to bring her back. Her slender figure flashes before my eyes like a shooting star and then fades away down to nothingness, as though nobody carrying that name ever existed. But I can feel her presence alive in me. And she tells me I was wrong: revenge is not the only way. Becoming like those who took her away is no solution.

The tear I can no more hold back tumbles to the floor. I've promised her...and have to keep that promise.

"Shadow?"

We are different, it is just too obvious we are. She is words and I am thoughts. She is light and I am darkness. She is a star flickering in the night sky and I am a vacant piece of cold space. She is everything I can't be. But Rose gave me a reason to live and fight for. Someone worth promising to.

"I have to go...I have to keep my promise to Maria..."-God, how do I manage to blurt out-"and you."

I only dare to quickly glance at Amy before dashing off. There is no reason to watch another person dying through the course of my existence. No need for bonds. It is more than enough I just remembered her name. Or I think so.

Yes, I think while running to meet my friends, it really is a bedtime story-one with a good ending, be it death or victory.

For she looked back, and for a second I thought there was the same childish smile on her face.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, that just slipped into my mind all of a sudden...just a short oneshot to defeat the boredom...It is afternoon here and I have nothing to do before my best friend comes for vacation over here...hope you enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Pt II (decided to make it a two shot from both POVs^^)**

Thoughts.

He always seems just so full of them, forever attached to memories and contemplations of things that can't be brought back. He never talks much, never enough to be understood. I have just discerned his figure in the end of the dark corridor, casually standing before the huge window in the control room. Thinking. Ready to be turned against all of us...while I can do nothing about it.

Or can I? Being the ever-weak part of the team, I suddenly feel the urge to play my part in the whole hero wingding. Things are really bad for Sonic and our friends, nobody allowed me to be of help...and it just makes me feel stupid and useless as ever. Young, stupid, weak, and useless. To Sonic's eyes. To _my eyes._ There is another way to contribute to this trial, though, and it wouldn't really harm -my mind says- to give it a shot.

But Shadow's view has always been a double-sided jacket for me; So powerful, enough to destroy the whole world, a cold lonewolf of no heart...and yet the professor's granddaughter was able to touch that part of him, the one I wouldn't believe he has hadn't I seen the change on his face -a special expression of care and determination- when something is being said about Maria Robotnik. That guy sure likes to live in the past...but doesn't someone have to help him, show that hurt individual that there is also the present...a chance to fix what's broken?

_No, he loves, he can't really want to destroy. Eyes don't lie, never. And those eyes only cry out sorrow. Just plain sorrow. _

Now the initial doubt wanes, and there's the subtle sound of a brave step forward. Much to my suprise, I am the one who took it. Towards him.

The dark male remains unmoving, rigid enough to make my heart stop. Does he really despise the presence of a person near him that much, or he simply hasn't noticed mine?

_Come on, you idiot, don't stand there like a plant! Say it! What would your hero think of you? _

"Shadow, we need you!", I venture, feeling a little like a fish out of the water. I stretch my arm to reach out for the black hedgehog, then leave it fall on my ribs as if not knowing what to do with it. What am I trying to achieve? Shadow is not at all like Sonic: they may be similar on terms of appearance, and the day I hugged him confusing the two it actually came as a shock...but Shadow doesn't desire to be one of us...his path of choice is one I can't understand; darkness, hatred, and -oh dear!-, so much, incredibly much, anger. How am I supposed, thus, to survive this talk? I haven't even tested my persuasive skills before!

The fact that my unwilling interlocutor won't turn to face me is rendering the situation rather daunting. It seems he just doesn't want to talk to anyone, or that he considers me immature and inane for a conversation. I know I have to prove Shadow wrong; besides, I want to see what some people call the mirror of the soul itself; I wanna see his face.

"Please, help us!" and _that_ is supposed to be an active intervention to the whole problem! Stupid, little, cheerful, ignorant Amy. Not courageous enough to let your voice be heard, while your friends are to risk their lives. You had your chance, here, now, only to spoil it doing what? _Beg? _And the Ultimate Life Form -that incorrigibe grouch- will run to help after that, sure!

Shadow's voice reaches my ears at last, yanking me violently from my train of thoughts.

"It's all according to plan", yeah, mister, I know you always wanna play robot, but you ought to do more than that to fool Amy Rose! I should feel offended by the fact that most people treat me as if I didn't have the brain to understand a thing, but it can earn me a great deal of information. And it does; even a blind man could see Shadow is confused, devastated, angry... and doesn't have someone to talk to, someone to give him a purpose. Someone to...

"...There is no reason for me to help them...", he can't actually mean what he's saying, no? They are infuriating, ugly, so much so I can't stand hearing such a calm, beautiful voice speak like that. For that sound is able to create something out of nothing, it gives letters a meaning, it paints...truths in front of you.

I don't want to believe what Shadow says.

Yeah, he may just...need someone...someone to...

"...Besides, there is no way to save anyone".

...love.

Shadow the Hedgehog needs someone to love. That last sentence automatically makes it all clear; the tone of it being said at, calm and yet with an underlying sharpness in it, the meaning in itself, everything! Maria comes to my mind for yet another time and I know she's going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life, like the broken voice of the one that adored her right now, in my head, admitting he couldn't save her. No, silly girl, don't cry! Just say your tale...and do your thing for God's sake!

I take another step forward, cursing myself for my great ideas. Then stop again. What am I going to say now? Oh, God, if only we weren't so different, so that we could see eye to eye! So that the hedgehog could see how wrong and pessimistic he is! Suddenly there is a huge deal of stuff I wanna show him, millions of thoughts that will make him happy again.

I realize I've been holding my breath; I wanna make him happy again.

"I know that people fight over the most trivial things. Some people may be selfish, like the Professor said..."

Please turn and look at me. Just give me a sign that you're listening.

"But they are basically good!", yes, they absolutely are, and he has to understand how beautiful our world is, "If they try their best and never give up on their wishes...They always have a reason to be happy..."

Like you should.

"...Saving them is a good thing!" I cannot but stare at his back, waiting for a reaction- anything to know that my little speech didn't go to waste; it is as though someone took the blood from my veins and replaced it with venom; time seems frozen and the Dark Guy won't say a thing. His eyes are not to be seen, thoughts are not to be deciphered.

Waiting killed the hedgehog.

Say something!

You've seriously weirded me out!

"Shadow?"

We are different, it's jus' too obvious we are! While I believe that everything is happening for good, my new friend thinks that everything's lost...and he won't share a piece of his mind -or the facial expression, at least not in this moment-when my whole world is made of friends and shared memories. Yet, I may have achieved -and I smile to myself about that- something worth being proud of; maybe I helped. Not only the world...but someone that needed love as well.

"I have to go now...I have to keep my promise to Maria"-I have finally made it to see the special gleam in those red optics, the one Shadow only kept for his lost sister, and even if for a single moment, it gives me the satisfaction that no other praise in the world will ever can-"and you."

Like that, Shadow The Hedgehog hurriedly dashed off and vanished, as if nobody had ever been in the room. It only remains to go and watch our world hope...and be safe and sould to meet yet another sunrise.

The giggle that follows I can't hold back.

_And you?_

He 'll never remember my name, will he?


End file.
